September 3 2015
Started out like any other day this summer, daily swim at Pinehurst with my sis and her kids. Beach went really well this time and we had a great time. Toddler well behaved and he had a great time and loads of fun to boot. I would say we got about a good hours swim in;or close to it when the thunder started.
We left of course ; hit up Pinehurst Variety for our ritual on the way home ice cream stop, and got everyone home.
So .Far. So. Good.
I knew from forecast I might hit a bit of rain on my way home. But forecast wasn't bad though so headed home myself and my toddler in tow.Only 20-25 min to get home , no biggies with a little rain; I got this.
Yeah LITTLE RAIN BS!!!
Made it back to just before Pinehurst Variety when it got so bad and windy; that not only myself but many others pulled over in the Variety Stores parking lot.
The rain was torrential and the wind was rocking the van so badly it was sketchy for a few min there.How my toddler slept threw that I will never know.
After what seemed like forever was only about 20 minutes it eased up enough that it was safe to go. Okay well that was my hope .
Besides the torrential rain had stopped and the winds were no longer mock 3 territory.
All right, feeling good , seems somewhat calm. Still grateful toddler is still asleep.
There happen to be 3 sets of road stretches that I drive on to get back home to Drumbo; this is significant .
So on the first road driving along its going good, then oh oh the rain has picked up a little again . I hear Thunder , um yep that's lightening . Great, if I hydro plane right now on this hill that won't be good; can feel the slight pull.. Stay calm , make it through .
Okay thank goodness safetly on the straight and narrow and not driving through puddles anymore .Feeling pretty good yet again, the end of the first road is in sight ; wait not quite :brake lights.
Okay so that is interesting, there is a huge monster tree across the road. Yes the wind really was that intense .
The guy who was in front of me turned around to go another way.I pull up into the front position. Now I stayed because the big truck on the other side of the tree was a city truck and they were just clearing the way.
Not only that I didn't know the back way to turn around and go home. Which in retrospect I should have and could have turned around and drove the long long way around through Paris.
But back to the truck.
Turns out that it was just a truck trying to get himself through. Not exactly a stellar situation right here , keeping in mind that it is still raining and the odd flash of lightening rears its head.
Once the truck got himself through and took off I had to take survey of the situation. At this point there were so many cars behind me now. I realized though that I could move a few of the smaller pieces of branch and make way for one car to make it through . So after a thunder clap and flash of lightening , I wished for a few safe seconds to move what I could.Interestingly not one of the people in any of the now numerous cars had any decency to help.
I moved fast , I had 30 different scenarios running through my head all at once. That coupled with the fact I had my toddler gave me Superhero mom speed .
Literally felt like 2 seconds that I threw stuff out of the way and got back into my van.I managed to make it through the path I made, thankfully no one was coming from the opposite way .
Still a slight rain with few echos of thunder and distant flashes of lightening .
Yes second road went off without a hitch. Though it is the shortest distance on this road between stop signs, which just figures.One more stretch and you are home . I mean what are the odds there were be more things to endure. Turns out good odds actually.
I am literally less than 4 mins from home . What I come upon is yet another tree across the road . This one already has the OPP there and Oxford County city workers on the way to get this one taken care of. Other road not there township .
So in all seriousness, I was ready to turn around and just go the back way. Even with them on their way to clear it, no telling how long it would take. Plus seriously by this point I have to pee.
Wait a minute what noise was that? That sput sput noise. Oh you have to be kidding me I ran out of freaking has , like completely out of gas . This has to be a joke. How the hell did that happen!? Seriously there was more than enough for 2 more days of adventures .
THANK YOU CAA MEMBERSHIP.
This is however is an adventure far from over ..
The only way to explain it, is to insert email I sent to CAA regarding the situation that followed.
Of course I took out reference numbers etc ....
Regarding none acceptable service￼
￼
Hi,
My sister said she live tweeted while I was stuck on Sept 3 , and that you send a message back to have me email you about what had happened.
My name is Carey
Reference from the texts was
Sept 3
Emergency gas call BC I was stuck from not only the dangerous storm but also from 2 fallen trees from 2 separate roads .
Anyhow I made my initial call at 4:48 PM , the call was 7 min and 8 sec. The call is not the issue as the lady on the phone was amazing she truly was and I wish I had her name she was amazing.
I was told it would be only up to 1 hour for me to have help. I was also told that due to my circumstances and I let it be aware I had a small child with me that I was the first one to receive service.
Then at 5:15 PM I was called by a man who needed clarification on address. I had to be pushed into a driveway BC it was to dangerous on the road. He told me someone would get back to me shortly .
No one did all I got was a text at 5:59 PM that someone would not be there till 6:59
Not acceptable .
I was told Classic Towing was coming
I had to get my sister to track the progress as I don't have data on my phone.
There is a reason that that is significant BC as she was tracking it showed the driver on the 401 etc. But at 6:32 PM a CAA driver PASSED ME , EVEN THOUGH I GOT OUT AND WAVED HIM DOWN.
I let my sister know and she says no the tracking shows that it is not CAA coming and it is Classic Towing
. I did make a phone call about a little after 7 to find out where the guy was BC even the tracking wasn't correct . I was told he was on scene but he was no where in sight and she informed me that they put themselves on scene up to 15 min before they show. Here is what has pissed me off , he didn't show up till 720pm and IT WAS THE SAME CAA DRIVER WHO PASSED ME AT 632PM
I did not say anything to the driver as by that time I was so frazzeled and it was so unfair to my toddler stuck that long, not to mention the guy was a jerk and said all you have is 5 bucks so go that way to a gas station. He didn't need to be like that not did he have any right to pass me, and I waved him down and swore actually when he passed by quite quickly and he sayw me we looked right at each other .
It was disgusting that the tracking wasn't even following this guy and that when we checked (my sister) when he passed it was showing the guy coming to me on the highway.
I sorry the fact that I first called at 4:48 and didn't get to until 720 is unacceptable, because the man passed me once . it would have taken him to sec to give me gas . he passed me at 632pm, why did it take till 720 for him to come back.
I kept all my texts to my sister BC after I saw that it was the same guy , I knew this would need to be dealt with.
I have had to use CAA many times and been very thankful and appreciative of the service I pay for ..
But when one if your workers sees someone in distress flagging them down BC they are waiting for someone to come and they just pass by is unacceptable.
Thanks
Carey
Not only did it take over 2 more hours to get home, but the power was out till about 830, saving grace my food was still frozen and cold.
But seriously the pee situation by the time I got home was at , any longer and I would have pissed the seat on the way home.
Thankful to the neighbours whose driveway I sat in for those 2 hours waiting. They did have peacocks so that was a cute thing for my toddler to see. Thank goodness I had a dvd to play for my toddler, who was awake just after I hung up with CAA . Thank goodness we had snacks and water , though the neighbours were more than willing to give us a drink if needed .
I will say though that CAA has went above and beyond to fix what happened .
I chose purposely to post all pictures at the end.

First road and first tree.

Truck got himself out .

A branch I threw ,one of .

Here's my path after I cleared what I could.

Second tree , third road .

Have no gas anyway , might as well watch the city guys clear the way.

While sitting in the driveway, can see the tree was struck by lightening.